New Places, New Faces
by weirdo-in-the-slutstack
Summary: When Percy and Leo move to the small town of Alpena, Michigan, they are not expecting much. But when they meet three girls driven with anxiety, abandonment, paranoia, and self esteem issues, the lives of the boys are put on a scale to be balanced by their choices. Will they stay balanced and be able to help the girls, or will they tip the scales and crash to the ground? AU and OOC


Percy's POV

I sighed as I set the last box down in the living room. Mom and I had moved, again. I can see why she wanted out of NYC. It was much quieter here, albeit the fact we lived on two of the busiest streets in the small city of Alpena Michigan. Annabeth and I had broke it off because I didn't tell her we were moving away. Truthfully, I wasn't that hurt. Sure, I had known her for 5 years, we went through a war together, but in all sense we had only dated for a month or two. I was ready to move on and find someone else.

"Percy! Could you help me with this sofa please?"  
My Mom was very sarcastic.  
I waited a moment, looking over the small room. It was nice, but it wasn't the nicest. I sighed again and went to help mom.  
She must have heard my sigh.

Alpena was a decent city, but from what I had seen so far it was kind of boring. One of the only things I was counting on was a few nice girls and the fact that my friend Leo Valdez was coming too, done Mom had pretty much adopted him in every way except for legally. And he didn't mind either. He was perfectly happy with it, as he needed a mother figure and mom was willing to be that to anyone who would ask her. She was the nicest lady I knew, an I am very proud to call her my mother.

Leo was being stupid and decided he was going to walk around the neighborhood right before we finished the boxes, which was fine because he was so excited I meet girls he would probably set something on fire by accident.

Once mom decided that she could handle the rest by herself, I released myself from he small home on Third Avenue, and went to find my best friend.

I set off down the block. Halfway down one side the sidewalk cut off, and for the next half a block I walked through my new neighbors yards. After a couple minutes of walking I saw Leo standing hands on hips, facing me toe-tapping as if he was an impatient parent.

"Mother of Zeus, Percy, what on earth and the heavens could possibly take you so long? Leo said with a shit eating grin. I half-smiled and pushed him to the side, where we continued walking around the block.

From what I had found so far, this neighborhood was made of mostly old people, though I still had hope that there would be kids my age, which was to say 16, though I had lived at camp for a total of 5 years, was still a good total.

When we had almost walked all the way around the block we came to a lot that seemed it was the backyard of the house next door. Back there was a pool, a sizable trampoline, and a shed big enough to serve as a small barn. It was pretty odd to be seeing this in a city neighborhood like this one, but it couldn't be a barn because there were very feminine voice drifting to us, giggling and laughing. One laugh caught my fancy.

It was a soft gentle laugh, but could still take over the others if the will was strong enough to, which was a quality that I admired. It was a very beautiful laugh and seemed to call my name.

I listened closer. There was another laugh, a loud guffaw that reminded me greatly of Apollo and Ares, that also possessed a Aphrodite like ring at the end. It was clear that the speaker was another girl, one that slightly enjoyed watching others suffer, kind of like that big sister who always reads over your shoulder and completely disregards any privacy you may have. The big sister you never asked for, but somehow still love, and whom you would cry over for days when she left for college and left you at home with the parents that just didn't understand. What I would give for a sister like that, one to protect me when times got tough, But I was determined to become friends with the loud guffawing girl.

The last laugh was of medium volume between the two other laughs. It had a slight cackle to it, and a forced tone underneath the surface. Strange.

All of the sudden the laughter stopped. There was a bunch of fumbling and harsh quiet whispers. A girl came out. She had curly hair down to her shoulders and bronze skin. Her eyebrows arched nicely, with her high cheekbones she looked of African American decent. She reminded me of a girl I knew at camp, Hazel. She seemed to have the same regal air about her, as if she was just a bit more passionate. She could pass of as anything from a child of Hermes to Aphrodite, from Hades to Bellona, Athena to Hephaestus.

I looked over at Leo. He was in awe. Leave it to Leo to find the one girl in the neighborhood out of his league. I could tell he was admiring her features. Do you ever learn?

"What the hell are you doing?", she sneered. "This is my backyard, why are you back here?" she said, crossing her arms and sticking out her hip. I could hardly speak. Why was my throat going dry, my confidence crumbling? I looked into her dark eyes and immediately felt even more unease.  
"I-I, er, I um, I was c-curious?" I stuttered out the pathetic excuse for an answer. How could I expect someone of authority to believe me when I didn't believe myself?  
My brain stopped again. When did I decide she was in authority?

"Why were you so curious? Are you from around here? What did you see that made you want to come back here?" The questions were coming at me like an army. I felt strongly overwhelmed, like I was being interrogated at the scene of a crime.

"I'm new to the neighborhood and I was exploring, I live in the house right there. I-er, heard the sound of your voices and I was curious. I'm sorry. Really I am."  
She looked skeptical, but she accepted the answers. I sighed in relief.

She turned on Leo, whom I'd forgotten about.  
"And you?" she said, glaring.  
"I live with Percy."

She turned back to me.  
"Your name is Percy?"  
I nodded. She swiveled back to Leo. "Well?" She was clearly asking his name. But Leo being the hard head he is replied with a sharp 'What?'. She glared again.  
"Your name." she hissed.  
"Leo. And yours?" She looked reluctant to tell us, as if she was afraid we were going to start stalking her.  
"Sydney." A nice name. It had the same ring Hazel's had. Now that I knew her name, she looked a lot like a Sydney.  
"You have a pretty name." Leo complimented. She actually looked flattered. She must not get that often.  
"Thank you Leo." She smiled at him. Maybe we could get used to her, She seemed very nice once you got over the initial intimidation. She must have been trying to protect herself and her friends. Oh yeah, her friends! I wondered if we were going to get to meet them.  
"I guess I'll go get my friends." She retreated back into the clubhouse. I could hear her talking and some replies. There was more fumbling and she came back out, this time with two more girls by her side.


End file.
